1.1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network, and more particularly, to a mechanism for maintaining a persistent miracast (which is a screen-mirroring protocol that lets a user broadcast anything from an Android® device or recent Intel® computer to a TV) session over a wireless link.
2.2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile and wireless technologies have been experiencing rapid growth over the past several years. This growth has been fueled by better communications, hardware, and more reliable protocols. Wireless service providers are now able to offer their customers an ever-expanding array of features and services, and provide users with unprecedented levels of access to information, resources, and communications. As mobile devices and wireless technologies continue to improve and grow in popularity, short-range wireless technologies are expected to replace the need for connecting devices together using cables or wires. As part of this evolution, a number of new technologies and standards (e.g., miracast, Wi-Fi Display (WFD) standard, etc.) have emerged that allow high-speed unidirectional wireless communication between electronic devices. The use of these emerging technologies/standards in unconventional ways provide users of mobile devices with access to new and improved communication services, functionalities, and capabilities will be beneficial to consumers of the mobile devices.
Generally, the WFD standard has been defined to transmit audio/video (AV) data while satisfying high quality and low latency. A WFD network is a network system suggested by the Wi-Fi Alliance® that enables Wi-Fi devices to be connected to each other in a peer-to-peer (P2P) fashion without participating in a home network, an office network, or a hot-spot network. The Wi-Fi devices within a WFD network may be capable of discovering information relating to each other, e.g., capability information, establishing a WFD session, and rendering content received during the WFD session. Typically, a WFD network comprises a Wi-Fi source device and either one or more Wi-Fi sink devices.
In the conventional systems and methods, a source device acts as a multi-media content provider device. In order to stream multi-media content, the source device discovers a sink device(s). Then, the source device performs service discovery with the sink devices to determine a type of services to be used at the sink devices. Thereafter, the source device establishes a miracast connection with the discovered sink devices. Further, the source device sends a WFD capability request frame to the sink devices over a wireless link. In response, the sink devices send a WFD capability response frame. The WFD capability response frame contains capability information and an audio and video intent value associated with a respective sink device. Accordingly, the capability information is exchanged and negotiated between the source device and the sink devices.
For example, the capability information exchanged and negotiated between the source device and the respective sink device can include audio/video parameters such as audio/video codec's, resolution, frames per second, and time synchronization parameters. Then, the source device establishes a miracast session with the respective sink device. Further, the source device streams multimedia content to the respective sink device during the miracast session. When the miracast session is torn down (stopped) between the source device and the respective sink device, in order to reestablish the miracast session, it is required to perform miracast capability exchange and reconfigure the codec's and ports prior to establishing the miracast session, thereby introducing additional latency in reestablishing the miracast session between the source device and the respective sink device.
An aspect of the present disclosure, is to provide a mechanism for maintaining a persistent miracast session between a source device and a sink device over a wireless link.
Another aspect of the present disclosure, is to provide a mechanism for establishing a persistent miracast session with the sink device.
Yet another aspect of the present disclosure, is to provide a mechanism for storing at least one of an identifier of the sink device, a session identifier, and configuration parameters.
Still another aspect of the present disclosure, is to provide a mechanism for verifying at least one of the stored identifier of the sink device, the stored session identifier, and the stored configuration parameters to reestablish the persistent miracast session between the source device and the sink device over the wireless link.
Still another aspect of the present disclosure, is to provide a mechanism for receiving a capability request message from the source device to identify whether the sink device supports a persistent miracast session.
Yet another aspect of the present disclosure, is to provide a mechanism for sending a capability response message indicating that the sink device supports the persistent miracast session to the source device.
Still another aspect of the present disclosure, is to provide a mechanism for receiving a persistent miracast session configuration message from the source device.
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for maintaining a persistent miracast session over a wireless link. The method includes establishing, by a source device, a persistent miracast session with a sink device, storing, at the source device, at least one of an identifier of the sink device, a session identifier, and configuration parameters, and verifying, by the source device, at least one of the stored identifier of the sink device, the stored session identifier, and the stored configuration parameters to reestablish the persistent miracast session between the source device and the sink device over the wireless link.
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for maintaining a persistent miracast session over a wireless link. The method includes receiving, by a sink device, a capability request message from a source device to identify whether the sink device supports a persistent miracast session, sending, by the sink device, a capability response message indicating that the sink device supports the persistent miracast session to the source device, receiving, by the sink device, a persistent miracast session configuration message from the source device, storing, by the sink device, at least one of an identifier of the source device, a session identifier, and configuration parameters, and sending, by the sink device, a verification response message to the source device to reestablish the persistent miracast session between the source device and the sink device over the wireless link.
In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a source device for maintaining a persistent miracast session over a wireless link. The source device includes a controller unit configured to establish a persistent miracast session with a sink device, store at least one of an identifier of the sink device, a session identifier, and configuration parameters, and verify at least one of the stored identifier of the sink device, the stored session identifier, and the stored configuration parameters to reestablish the persistent miracast session between the source device and the sink device over the wireless link.